While the bigger boats seem to get all the press these days, the more manageable but still big 37’ 6” Sea Ray 370 Sundancer will surprise you with great performance and practical accommodations. For the young professional couple, the 370 Sundancer is a romantic getaway boat, with space to host another couple and speed to get from marina to paradise in record time. Have a great weekend, stay till the last minute, then fly back to home port.

Of course, your lives will change over time and the 370 Sundancer will easily accommodate a child or two, or three if you fold out the salon sofa. You could get an easy 10 to 20 years of family boating and cruising aboard the 370 – and that becomes a real bargain in pleasure over the years.

Signature Style

The 370’s long, low express cruiser design is a signature Sea Ray style and will still look good years from now. The boat has timeless features as well. At the transom, you get a generous swim platform with fold-down boarding ladder, remote stereo system controls and a clever foldout stern seat concealed in the transom where you can tan and watch people swimming.

There is a storage locker for lines and fenders, and a transom gate that leads into the cockpit. Comfortable seating for a gang of friends hides generous storage bins under all of the cushions. Snap-out carpeting adds to the barefoot comfort, and there’s overhead lighting for evenings – very elegant.

The refreshment area has an available Kenyon electric barbecue grill, refrigerator or icemaker, and a sink along with a trash locker, storage and food prep space, too. This space is designed for all-day living.

The stylish hardtop protects much of the cockpit from direct sun yet still leaves “tanning room.” You can open it all up for a perfect outdoor boating experience, or zip up the canvas if your weather is less than perfect.

Our test boat had a swivel companion seat plus a double-wide helm seat. This adjusts forward and backward, has flip bolsters for a higher vantage point and a fold-down foot rest for added comfort. But the best feature is that the whole seat can rotate to face back into the cockpit. This makes the cockpit a far more functional space, accommodating more people in significantly greater comfort.

At the helm, Sea Ray has stayed with full analog instruments for the twin 8.2 L MAG ECT big-block engines while including the digital SmartCraft Vessel View system with daylight-viewable LCD screen. This duplicates some instrument information but adds a wealth of other vessel metrics. It’s an impressive helm and at night that array of gauges will look great lit up!

This style of boat general offers great sightlines in all directions. The elegant wood-rimmed steering wheel tilts for standing or seated driving, and the SmartCraft controls fall easily to hand for enthusiastic running.

Joystick Docking

Our test boat was equipped with the Axius joystick docking system, including the Skyhook feature. It is intuitive and easy to use. A single button press activates the Axius system, integrates with your GPS and then uses short bursts of engine thrust to hold your position while you wait to enter a narrow channel or get to the fuel dock, even in current or wind. Dockside, the Axius joystick system will literally enable the Sundancer to maneuver in any direction, turning, pivoting and even moving sideways to help you into your slip, making docking effortless, even in windy conditions.

While we think Sea Ray’s 370 Sundancer can be your bargain-priced home on the water, it’s also well suited to those looking for an exhilarating rush of wind and spray. The MerCruiser 8.2 L engines really have love to run, delivering a massive acceleration force to get your whole gang up on the plane and, with the tabs down, stay planing down to slow speeds for the nicest possible ride in rough water.

Cruising at around 3,500 to 4,000 RPM is the most economical rate to travel from A to B but the MerCruiser 8.2 L engines always seem to want to go faster! The test boat ran an impressive 44 MPH out in the bay in Florida, and the waves from passing boats didn’t upset the 370 at all. Handling was sports car precise and turning was very tight; overall the boat delivers a very satisfying level of performance.

Spacious Below

In the cabin, the boat’s many strengths continue. The salon feels open and spacious; added space is liberated by the electric retractable forward island berth. At night in the extended position, you have a shaped queen-sized berth, but by pressing a button, this retracts by about two feet opening up much more floor space, especially in the galley area. It becomes a great lounge seat for TV viewing or reading. Very clever! A big-screen TV is located by the salon settee.

The galley is well equipped, with a good sized Dometic refrigerator plus a separate crisper drawer, a two-burner stove with a cover, microwave, an excellent locker for bottles, boxes and spices plus plenty of storage.

The area below the helm is a great conversation space that converts into a queen-size sleeping area with a privacy curtain – great for guests or kids.

To port of the floating wooden stairs is a fully enclosed head with a separate shower stall. There is a stainless steel sink in a handsome vanity offering space to store toilet tissue, towels and such, while the medicine cabinet has cosmetic space and mirrors well placed for shaving or makeup.

Overall, this is a sport cruiser that will deliver decades of pleasure. And when you’re finally ready to move on, it’s still a Sea Ray when you trade it in!

To borrow a line from Monty Python, “and now, for something completely different”.

Normally, our boating adventures are spent weaving our way amongst the picturesque backdrop of the 30,000 Islands of eastern Georgian Bay aboard our Sea Ray Sundancer 268. This time we’ve traded power for sail as friends welcome us aboard their 38-foot Irwin for the Canada Day long weekend.

We’ve set our sights on a decidedly different destination for this journey, charting a course for Thornbury. This small town, located in the southern reaches of Nottawasaga Bay, is an oft-overlooked area of Georgian Bay - but it shouldn’t be. Although we’ve explored this shoreline on countless road trips, this will be our first visit from the waterside.

An estimated 10,000 yachts measuring 100 feet or more are afloat on the world’s oceans. They congregate in places like Monaco, St. Tropez, Fort Lauderdale, Antibes, and Antigua. Some yachts are used for private luxury cruising - Oman Sultan Qaboos, for example, shares Al Said, his 508-foot yacht, only with his 65 guests (and 140-member crew). Other big yachts offer opulent charters serving paying guests. Many yachts move between the Mediterranean and the Caribbean following the seasons.

The Cantius 46 is the latest evolution of Cruisers Yachts’ Cantius line – now there are five models from 42 to 60 feet. The new Cantius 46 is a great example of “easy boating” the way Volvo Penta imagined it and how Cruisers Yachts has executed it. The idea is that you just come on board, unlock the glass doors, fire it up, cast off, and enjoy - alone, with a spouse, or with a huge group.

Since the first Cantius model was introduced, Cruisers Yachts has continued to refine the concept for ever-greater convenience, more clever and innovative features, and also greater performance.

The Jeanneau 410 is the eighth generation of the Sun Odyssey line, but even with that long history and umpteen years of tweaks and iterations, what the French builder has done in the latest revamp will make you say, “Wait, what?”

Last year, Jeanneau turned the sailboat deck layout on its ear with the introduction of their Sun Odyssey 490 and 440, and the concept of the ‘walk-around deck’.

Last time we looked at making proper electrical connections – the tools, supplies and methods needed to make connections between components and wiring.

When planning out electrical work, one of the more common questions that I address is on the set-up, installation and sizing of breakers and fuses.

Fuses and breakers are collectively called ‘overcurrent protection’ – and these come in many different shapes, styles and sizes. Their purpose is the same: to prevent a situation where a larger than intended electrical current is running through the circuit, which puts the circuit at risk of overheating, fire and damage to equipment.

Watch for a tsunami of innovative new boating products in the chandlery this year, as accessory manufacturers battle for your attention and dollars.

This past decade has been a real up-and-down ride for the companies who make boating equipment. When the recession hit in 2008/2009, new product development for most manufacturers ground to a sharp halt as they focused on more pressing issues, like simply keeping the lights on. It took a few years for the economy to stabilize and for the first handful of new items to begin slowly trickling out to market. For guys like me who make a living writing about new boating gear, those were pretty lean years, let me tell you.

You most likely operate your vessel with batteries that are rechargeable. Rechargeable batteries account for nearly half of worldwide battery sales. Within the rechargeable battery category, there are many different types of chemistries that are used. The most proven type of chemistry is the lead acid chemistry.

Wet cell or “flooded” batteries and Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) batteries are both considered lead batteries and contain an electrolyte solution which causes a chemical reaction and produces electrons. These batteries are recharged when put in contact with a reverse current. But, given the way they are designed, they each have their own pros and cons and these variations should be considered before use.

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